NAYUDU, J. : In this civil rule it is prayed that the notice dated 7-9-63 issued by the Deputy Commissioner, Gauhati under Rule 1 (b) of the Second Schedule of the Assam Muni­cipal Act, 1956 (Act 15 of 1957) (hereinafter called 'the Act') fixing the 4th October, 1963 for the holding of a meeting of the Gauhati Municipal Board for the election of a Chairman in a vacancy that has arisen on account of the resignation of Sri Satish Chandra Kakati, Ex-Chairman, is invalid and should be quashed. (2) It will be convenient to refer to the relevant provisions of the Act. Relevant portions of Section 33 of the Act run as follows: - "38 (1) (2) At the first meeting of the Municipal Board after n general election, called at the instance of the Deputy Commissioner, the Com­missioners shall elect one of their own number other than an officer of the Government appoint­ed under sub-section (2) of Section 11, to be Chairman subject lo the approval of Govern­ment. The Chairman so elected pending ap­proval at the Government shall be competent to discharge the duties at his office. (3) The said Commissioners shall ;U the said meeting or at a subsequent meeting elect one of their own number, other than an officer appointed under sub-section (2) of Section II, to be Vice-Chairman. The Chairman so elected pending ap­proval at the Government shall be competent to discharge the duties at his office. (3) The said Commissioners shall ;U the said meeting or at a subsequent meeting elect one of their own number, other than an officer appointed under sub-section (2) of Section II, to be Vice-Chairman. (4) When the Commissioners fail to elect a Chairman or a Vice-Chairman under the two preceding sub-sections the State Government shall appoint In name one of the Commis­sioners to be Chairman or Vice-Chairman as the case may be Section 36 of the Act is as follows: "Whenever for any cause the offices of both the Chairman and the Vice-Chairman are vacant in any Board, the State Government shall appoint any one from amongst the Com­missioners as the Chairman to hold office as such temporarily till a Chairman is elected' Section 41 of the Act deals with the tilling of casual vacancies of Chairman, and Vice-chair­man and is as follows: "If any Chairman or Vice-Chairman of a Board be unable to complete his full term of office or avail himself of leave granted under Section 40, the vacancy caused by his resigna­tion, removal, death or absence on leave snail subject to the provisions of Sections 33 and 36 be filled by appointment or election, as the case may be, and me person so appointed or elected shall fill such vacancy for the unexpired portion of the term for which such Chairman or Vice-Chairman would otherwise have continued in office or during his absence on leave, as the case may be" (3) in the instant case the office of the Chairman had fallen vacant and the Deputy Commissioner had issued notices to the Com­missioners of the Municipal Board calling for a meeting for the election of the Chairman, ap­parently acting under Section 33 (2) read with Rule 1 (b) of the Second Schedule to the Act The question that calls for determination in this Civil Rule is whether the Deputy Commissioner is competent to call for a meeting for the elec­tion of the Chairman when the vacancy occurs in the course of the term of office of the Chair­man, the Chairman having already been elected in a meeting convened by the Deputy Commis­sioner under Section 33 (2) of the Act. (4) Reliance is placed on Section 41 containing the clause subject to the provisions of Sections 33 and 36' From this it is contended by Mr. Pathak, the learned Senior Government Advocate that whenever a meeting for the elec­tion of the Chairman or the Vice-Chairman is to be held, it should be held subject to Sec­tion 33, which, according to him, implied that the procedural provisions contained in Sec. 33 should all be followed, hi other words. Ins con­tention is that the meeting al winch such an election is to he held, has to he convened by the Deputy Commissioner in accordance with Section oo (2) of the Act. We are unable to agree with this submission. The use of the clause 'subject to the provisions of Sections S3 and 36', in our opinion, only means that whenever there is any conflict between the procedure indicated to be followed in Section 41 and that in Sec­tion, 33 and 36, the latter sections should pre­vail, hut in the absence of any such conflict the normal procedure envisaged in Section 41 has got to be followed, The mere use of the expres­sion 'subject to the provisions of Sections 33 and 36'" does not, in our opinion, amount to making Section 41 in this ease, subject to Sec­tions 33 and 36, so as to read the sections as part of Section 41. This could hardly have been the intention of the legislature. See. 33 (2) clearly provides for the holding of the first meeting at which the Chairman and the Vice-Chairman are to be elected. Section 41 contemplates a later stage, where the election having been held in accord­ance with Section 33 (2) at a meeting convened by the Deputy Commissioner for the purpose, a casual vacancy arises by reason of resigna­tion, death or other causes. It is true that where the Commissioners fail to elect a Chairman or Vice-Chairman under Section 41, under Sec­tion 33 (4) the State Government shall appoint by name one of the Commissioners to be the Chairman or the Vice-Chairman, as the case may be. Similarly an examination of Section 36 shows that the appointment contemplated by that section was only for a temporary purpose until the permanent incumbent is elected under Section 41. Hence giving Section 41 the plain meaning, in our opinion, does not, in any way militate with the provisions of Sections 33 and 36. Similarly an examination of Section 36 shows that the appointment contemplated by that section was only for a temporary purpose until the permanent incumbent is elected under Section 41. Hence giving Section 41 the plain meaning, in our opinion, does not, in any way militate with the provisions of Sections 33 and 36. (5) In this connection it would be useful to refer to the Second Schedule to the Act which contains the rules framed in exercise of the power conferred on the State Government under Section 306 of the Act. Section 306 (3) of the Act also provides that the rules in the Second Schedule shall have effect as if enacted in the body of the Act itself. If it had been the intention of the legislature that the procedure prescribed in Section 41 should be subject to the business procedure prescribed for the first meeting of the "Board in R. 1 (b) of the Second Schedule, specific mention could easily have been made to that effect, but significantly that is absent. (6) Further, Section 46 of the Act, the relevant portions whereof are extracted here-under, makes provision for calling a meeting of the Board by the Chairman or Vice-Chairman for the election of the Chairman or Vice-Chair­man after the first meeting of the Board as contemplated by Section 33: "46. No business shall be transacted at any meeting of the Board unless such meeting has been called by the Chairman or Vice-chair­man, or, under Section 43, sub-section (3), by persons signing a requisition, nor unless a quorum shall be present. No business shall be transacted at any meeting of the Board unless such meeting has been called by the Chairman or Vice-chair­man, or, under Section 43, sub-section (3), by persons signing a requisition, nor unless a quorum shall be present. The quorum necessary for the transaction of business at a meeting shall be one-half of the total number of Com­missioners of the Board when any of the follow­ing subjects are to be disposed of at such meet­ing- * * * * * (v) the election of Chairman or Vice-Chairman * * * * * A cumulative consideration of these provi­sions leaves no room for doubt that the correct procedure to be followed in the matter of filling a vacancy caused in the office of the Chairman or the Vice-Chairman during the term for which the election is held, is as indicated in Section 41 and that such a meeting could be called by the Vice-Chairman, who having regard to Sec. 39, acts during the vacancy in the office as a Chair­man and is empowered to perform all the duties of the Chairman. (7) In this view we are clearly of opinion that the Deputy Commissioner had no jurisdic­tion to call for a meeting for the holding of the election of the Chairman for filling the un-expired term of office of the Chairman of the Municipal Board. It is true that the date of' the meeting given in the notice issued by the Deputy Commissioner had expired long ago. Nevertheless lo make the legal position clear, we would make the rule absolute and in the entire circumstances we do not propose to make any order as to cost. (8) It is presumed that the Vice-Chairman would not lose further time in calling for a meeting for the election of the Chairman under Section 11 of the Act. Rule made absolute.